Big boost for ECOL as Denmark gives formal go-ahead

Denmark has confirmed that it is formally recognising the European Crane Operators Licence following a series of meetings and consultations.

As a result, any ECOL-qualified crane operator will be able to obtain a Danish crane operators’ licence on production of their ECOL status without the need for any further training or testing.

The news was received this week in a message from the Danish health and safety organisation Arbejdstilsynet (AT) to Danish training organisation EUC Lillebælt and ESTA member DI, the Confederation of Danish Industry. They in turn passed it on to the ECOL Supervisory Board.

The Danish authorities also said that in future they hope to allow ECOL-qualified crane operators to work in the country without the need to obtain a Danish licence but that this will take more time as such a move might require current regulations to be amended.

ECOL Supervisory Board member Klaus Meissner said: “`This is very good news indeed. Standards in Denmark are very strict and carefully supervised by the authorities there, and if they are happy to support ECOL, that should help persuade other national regulatory bodies to follow suit.”

He continued: “The potential for ECOL both to raise safety standards and increase efficiency right across Europe is not in question and we look forward to further developments in the near future.”

ESTA’s ECOL project received a boost in February when Belgium agreed to recognise the licence and positive talks are also ongoing with Germany, Spain and Ireland.

ECOL has already signed two mutual recognition agreements, with the Netherlands and British Columbia in Canada. Such agreements involve ensuring that standards of the national licence and ECOL are fully aligned.